He speaks to us…..we just have to be attentive to His voice. It’s not always through something tangible like the colorful wooden blocks which spelled out “JOY”. I was at a hard place in life and feeling as if I had lost my joy. I was happy enough, just not joyful. I sat on the floor surrounded by new 2 year old students and an array of cars, trains, and big, colorful, wooden blocks. Right there in front of me, spelled out among the chaos was J-O-Y. Wow! I knew without a doubt it was the Lord speaking to me. “Restore to me the joy of my salvation and renew a right spirit within me Psalm 51:12. That is how JOY became “my word”. The word kept showing up and each time at just the right moment. When I come across it, I smile and thank God for the reminder. Do you have a special word? My sister’s is HOPE. (See my post Forever Tattooed: A Tribute to my Sister).
God speaks to us through nature. Walking to work one crisp Fall morning I noticed there were heart shaped leaves strewn all along my path.
Yes, nature….God speaks to us through nature! Sometimes it can be overwhelming, it’s so breathtaking! Fluffy white clouds against a blue sky, sunrises, sunsets, fall trees, spring flowers, the ocean!! I could go on and on. God created all this beauty for us to enjoy! I love praising the Lord in nature.
Another way God speaks to us is through His word. I have a perfect example of this which we are presently living out. My son and his family moved about a 45 minute drive from me. The house they moved into had a perfect area on the bottom floor for a childcare. They wanted to know if we (my two sons and I) wanted to move into this space and start a childcare there. I said no, although I’ve always wanted a nice big area for the kiddos. But, we’d be living in that area as well (it has three bedrooms) so it would be no different than the situation we were in currently. There is a one bedroom house on the property and I jokingly said “If you can get the current tenant to move out…I could live there then I would consider it”. You can probably guess what happened! A week or so later, the guy who was living in that house decides to move!! Well, now there’s a decision to be made and lots of prayer begins! Let me be clear about something, I don’t like change…at all. I was a preschool teacher at my previous job for 17 years and probably would still be there except the owner decided to close. I inquired of the families if they would be interested in me starting a home childcare…and they did! So for the last two years I’ve had kiddos at my house and it’s been great, but we could use a larger space.
As I was praying and seeking the Lord, we were in our Christmas study at church, on the names of Jesus. The first name being “Wonderful Counselor”, I was seeking counsel from the Lord. I did not want to move unless He was behind it and leading us. I was doing a Christmas devotional called, “A Heart Prepared” and day 2 of advent was scripture from the Psalms. “He made known His ways to Moses…” Psalm 103:7. What ways did he make known to Moses, I wondered. The answer was found in Exodus 33:14-17, The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you and I will give you rest.” Then Moses said to God, “If your presence does not go with us, do not send us from here”. (The exact words I was praying, “don’t send us God if you’re not with us”). I then looked up “rest”, He will give you rest. Deu. 12:10 “But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land your God is giving you as an inheritance”. I knew right then that the Lord would be with us in our move, a peace came over me. Jesus, our Prince of Peace was letting me know that He would be with us in this move.
So, yes, we moved! We have been here two months now. It was hard leaving the kiddos and families we were caring for and moving into the unknown. Setting up the childcare, the licensing process, advertising, and enrolling new families has not been easy, and we are still in that process. There have been roadblocks, doubt and fear creep in and I wonder if we should have stayed where we were. The minute my mind wanders to “I’m afraid to start something new….we were comfortable enough where we were”….Isaiah 43:18 comes to me “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing”. Our God is so faithful and He desires to direct our path, we just have to listen.
So, if you are curious, no, my license hasn’t gone through yet (my paperwork was lost! Roadblock!), all our spots are not filled yet…(another Roadblock)! But, you’ve heard the phrase that God is a God of the eleventh hour…well we are reaching the 11th hour! But, He knows that and it’s all in his timing. If it were easy and everything fell into place we wouldn’t be learning this awesome lesson of trusting Him when we can’t see the outcome. That’s called faith, Fantastic Adventure In Trusting Him! I will be anxious to update you on how everything fell into place, in the 11th hour!
God desires to be our constant companion and desires an intimate relationship with each of us so we can hear him when he speaks to us. He’s our Father and loves us so, He wants only to be a part of all the details in our lives, the big and the small. He wants us to talk to him like he’s sitting right next to us, because actually He is.
I have so many God stories I could tell, I’m sure you do, too! I’d love to hear yours!
